Posted on 06/02/2025 7:42:04 AM PDT by bitt
A dangerous flesh-eating parasite is rapidly marching toward the United States despite several desperate efforts to halt its advance. And one can thank the Mexican drug cartels for this.
As The Atlantic notes, the United States has been fighting an aerial war against the New World screwworm for 70 years. This parasite eats animals alive, including cows, pigs, deer, dogs, and even humans.
The larvae of the parasitic fly harboring the worm rip through flesh and transform small pricks into huge, revolting wounds. Worse, they produce foul-smelling odors resembling sewer gas.
It’s no wonder the worm’s scientific name, C. hominivorax, translates to “man-eater.”
In the 1950s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched an all-out assault to eradicate the screwworm.
Here is how they did it, according to The Atlantic.
Workers raised screwworms in factories, blasted them with radiation until they were sterile, and dropped the sterile adult screwworms by the millions—even hundreds of millions—weekly over the U.S., then farther south in Mexico, and eventually in the rest of North America.
The worm was eradicated from North America and Central America in the 20th century, but things have turned dark.
The outbreak began in Panama, skyrocketing from dozens a year to 1,000, despite ongoing drops of sterile flies. According to the Atlantic, the parasite then began moving northward, at first slowly and then rapidly, by 2024.
As of this month, the parasite has advanced 1,600 miles through eight countries to reach the Mexican States of Oaxaca and Veracruz, just 700 miles away from the Texas border.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
The Democrat Party should at least get an honorable mention in this.
Funny but sadly true.
Florida Keys (deer) in 2016:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/nws-epi-report.pdf
General Info.
https://capcvet.org/guidelines/cochliomyia-hominivorax/
“Terrorizing”?...not so much GP “Hofties”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.